Big Ten expansion plans remain unsettled

Big Ten expansion remains a concept without any firm plan. That much became evident Wednesday after conference commissioner Jim Delany delivered a statement to the media in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“It’s pretty clear that we may not act,” Delany told reporters at the BCS meetings. “It’s also a possibility that we may. It’s a possibility that we may act in a way that would (add) more than a single member.”

Delany suggested that no news would be coming out of the meetings being held this week at a posh Scottsdale resort.

“There’s nothing Earth-shattering here,” he said. “I wanted to put our announcement of last December into some sort of context given some of the reports.”

Delany’s statement left fans in the Big 12 and Big East hanging.

Speculation is that Texas, Nebraska and Missouri from the Big 12 could be Big Ten expansion targets. Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers of the Big East and Notre Dame, an independent, also have been mentioned.

The Boston Globe quoted a source at the meeting as saying that Notre Dame is not in the mix of expansion candidates.

“They haven’t been in the mix for a while,” the source told the Globe.